Equipment maintenance for complex assets

How to maintain complex equipment efficiently

Tracking and carrying out maintenance programmes for complex assets and equipment requires specialist tools and processes. Mike Clements has implemented complex equipment maintenance systems to track hundreds of thousands of assets around the world. Here he shares his experience to help you manage your equipment more efficiently.

The problem with composite assets

Preventative maintenance schedules are the cornerstone of planned maintenance. Schedules may be meter-based, time-based or driven by some other metric. Automated routines running off these schedules will typically trigger reminders leading to some form of work order to ensure the required maintenance is carried out.

For simple assets, a one-to-one relationship between the work order and the asset is sufficient. For more complex or composite equipment, this single work order per single piece of equipment relationship becomes problematic. When you have composite assets, kits, assemblies, or a tree of assets with many connections, which require constant daily, weekly and other regular checks then that composite asset or asset tree creates a lot of additional complexity.

The need for order

If we take a vessel-based ROV as an example, then the ROV is not so much a single asset as a collection of linked assets or child assets that make up the parent asset. This type of asset is more accurately described as an asset tree comprised of multiple assets linked together in a series of virtual or actual sub-assets.

In this example, each of these elements is then mapped onto a piece of equipment that can be further broken down into sub-assets, sub-assemblies and individual pieces of equipment. Each piece will have its own maintenance schedules, certificates and spares.

In as little as a week, a complex asset tree can generate tens or even hundreds of separate work orders, each with its own set of checklists, safety checks, meter readings and measurements to be taken at the point of actually completing the work.

In order to handle this level of complexity, it is essential that supporting systems can go beyond stand-alone schedules and work orders to:

• Express inter-relationships within assets in the form of an asset tree
• Aggregate work orders into work order packs
• Allow some form of sequencing of maintenance within the allocated time frame

Looking at this example, the complexity involved in scheduling planned maintenance is clear. In the real world, even well-planned schedules cannot always anticipate additional variables such as reactive maintenance or shifting project plans. Scheduling maintenance for complex assets is as much about flexibility as it is about being able to aggregate multiple schedules efficiently.

Asset tree visibility

With so many separate inter-dependent elements comprising a complex asset, it is important that you can see the interplay between the various elements comprising the asset tree. An issue with any single component will impact the asset tree as a whole.

In our ROV example, when viewing an asset tree within the FMIS Equipment & Maintenance System, we can see that there are many different levels within a templated asset tree model. Any item that is red would indicate that there is a defunct or missing piece of equipment. We can also see whether the item is tested or not.

Work order packaging

In order to complete scheduled work orders efficiently, it is necessary to package the orders into some form of sequence.  This may be determined by the asset level within the asset tree and/or by the sequence of the various checklists implied in those work orders generated by the whole asset tree.

Packaging work orders offers many benefits including:

• Sequencing tasks over the duration of a distinct period
• Providing visibility of all checklists for all work orders (either for an individual item or a range of equipment)
• Drilling down into the actual work order
• Collated access to meter readings and measurements that need to be taken
• Completing tasks in a consistent manner
• Applying validation to and providing analysis of the total package

Sequencing package elements

It is common for work orders to have to be carried out in a specific order on complex equipment items.  This sequence of tasks, known as a work order package, forms a critical path that jobs need to follow through the complex package of work orders for a composite asset tree.

A work order package for a collection of assets in an asset tree can be for a distinct time period – week, month etc. Within the package, it may be necessary to group work orders (along with any checklists or task lists) into sub-packages that have a distinct route and critical path.

It is important to be able to easily identify these routes within a whole asset tree work order package. It may be necessary to look forward in time to include future six-monthly/annual checks or other maintenance activities into the package while the whole asset tree is already subject to maintenance.

Just remember…

Equipment maintenance systems for organisations that have composite asset trees will need to provide an optimised approach to batching all related work orders into packages that can be sequenced and worked on in a consolidated manner. Coherent packages will reduce complexity and support the navigation of a critical path through your planned maintenance schedule.

Get in touch

For more information on how FMIS Equipment and Maintenance could transform your equipment maintenance programme, please contact us here or call us on +44 (0) 1227 773003.